Why can't the New Testament be our guide to morality?

The New Testament was a major improvement in morality over the Old Testament. I would attribute that to the development of human values in general over that time period. We can already see a progression in the OT from the genocidal Pentateuch to t... read more

a2a The morality, such as it is, of the New Testament, is based upon the morality of the Old Testament, and adds in an extra little twist of it's own, vicarious redemption through the sacrifice of an individual, in this instance the Jesus character. read more

” I am atheist. So I know that Old Testament promotes things like slavery and cannibalism thus can't be a source of our morality. read more

As a warm-up, he describes Old Testament morality (sometimes cited and approved in the new testament): Human sacrifice, genocide, slaveholding, and misogyny are consistently celebrated. Of course, God’s counsel to parents is refreshingly straightforward: whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30, and 23:13–14). read more